Your Real Estate Life Michael Harris

Category: Real Estate Finance

The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits jumped by 20,000 to 243,000 in early March, but layoffs remained near a 45-year low. Economists had expected initial jobless claims to total 238,000 in the seven days stretching from Feb. 26 to March 4

The price of imports rose in February for the third month in a row, and in a potentially worrisome sign, the increase spread beyond oil into other industrial and consumer goods. The import price index rose 0.2% in February following even bigger increases in the prior two months, the government reported Thursday. Yet unlike in

The European Central Bank offered no surprises Thursday as it left interest rates unchanged. The Governing Council left the main refinancing rate at 0%, while the rate on deposits parked overnight at the bank remains at minus 0.4%. The rate on the bank’s marginal lending facility remains at 0.25%. In a statement, the bank repeated

European government bond yields ticked lower on Thursday after the European Central Bank left its monetary-policy strategy steady. The yield on the 10-year German bund , considered the European benchmark, was up half a basis point on the day at 0.375%, while the yield on the 10-year French bond declined two basis points to 1.008%.

Gold futures pushed their slide into an eighth consecutive session Thursday as prices languished at their lowest since early February. A sharp drop for oil prices, as crude dropped below $49 a barrel for the first time this year, weighed on gold trading. The yellow metal fell even as a rising dollar index paused its

Rates for home loans spiked along with a surge in Treasury yields as Federal Reserve officials guided market expectations toward an interest rate increase next week. It is only the third week in 2017 in which interest rates have increased.

Treasury yields moved moderately lower Friday as investors awaited the jobs report from President Donald Trump’s first full month in office. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged lower to 2.604%, while the yield on the 30-year bond was flat at 3.189%. The yield on the two-year note was off slightly at 1.376%. Treasury

China’s central bank head, Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan, on Friday indicated there’s a slight shift there away from the largely expansionary monetary policy that’s been in place for the last few years. With the economy healthier, the bank is moving to support government efforts to cut off overly generous credit and lower financial risks, he said

The U.S. economy added 235,000 net new jobs in February, beating expectations for 190,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.7% from 4.8%, while the labor force participation rate edged up slightly to 63% from 62.9% in January. Economists had forecast 190,000 job gains, according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey. Many

It may not be the Fed that signals a more aggressive rate hiking scenario Wednesday — it could be the inflation data. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by a quarter point Wednesday afternoon, and it is likely to sound more upbeat about the economy. Its dual mandate — inflation and employment —